We round up the reviews for Hannah Doran’s Papatango Prize-winning play, which continues to run at the Park Theatre until the 29th November.
WhatsOnStage: *** “The cast of five are all excellent. Ash Hunter’s Billy morphs from hulking alpha to caged animal – eyes searching wildly for gaps in the fence. Marcello Cruz is thoroughly winning as JD – all earnest passion and golden retriever energy. Jackie Clune’s Paula balances toughness with heart, while Mithra Malek’s T does the same dance but with old-school loyalty versus nagging conscience. And Eugene McCoy is understatedly unscrupulous as head butcher David, a Wall Street hotshot turned divorced ex-con, who seems to be one bad FaceTime with his kids away from implosion.”
The Guardian: *** “Not every character is as well developed and the drama at times seems led by plot. But this is a vigorous first play, beautifully performed, alive and energetic, by a playwright of promise.”
The Standard: **** “Hannah Doran’s script is schematic but urgent and impressively immersed in the grain of blue-collar New York life, given she’s a British-Irish bookseller based in London. (She has also studied and had plays produced in the States: she may also have been a butcher, for all I know.) The Meat Kings won the 2024 Papatango writing prize and is presented here in a tight, vividly acted in-the-round staging by the company’s artistic director, George Turvey.”
The Spy in the Stalls: **** “And this is the ultimate strength of Doran’s play – how it brings the damaged outside world into the personal lives of the characters, exploring the extent to which our individual choices make a difference in the face of broader inequities and bigotry.”
Theatre & Tonic: **** “The Meat Kings! (Inc.) of Brooklyn Heights is a fantastic new drama, gripping from the get go, dripping in tension as it looks at the dark underbelly of the USA. This is a brilliant and impressive debut from Doran. Fiercely dark and shocking in equal measure, this is not one to miss.”
Everything Theatre: **** “The Meat Kings is a powerful, finely observed debut that cuts deep into questions of work, loyalty, and survival in modern America. Strong writing combined with a talented cast who find the marrow and muscle within their characters.”
British Theatre Guide: “The confident, well-directed cast are always watchable as believable, complex characters in this topical play that exposes some of the cruel day-to-day consequences of Trump policies. At times, the story carries echoes of Arthur Miller with its interrogation of the American Dream and its empathy for those labelled immigrants in a society created by immigrants.”
Fairy Powered Productions: **** “A stunning debut from Hannah Doran – definitely a name to look out for in the future.”
London Theatre 1: ***** “This debut play, written by Hannah Doran, is refreshingly original, imaginatively crafted, sharply observed, and utterly believable. It’s no surprise it won the prestigious Papatango New Writing Prize 2024. If this production is any indication of what’s to come, Doran has a glittering career ahead.”
Time Out: *** “There’s also a solid cast and a cute set from Mona Camille, which puts pvc butcher’s curtains on all the theatre doors and makes use of a series of joints of some sort of convincing-ish synthetic meat for the copious scenes of actual butchery. It’s a solid play that grows in stature – when I caught up with on a sleepy matinee the audience was largely unresponsive for the first half; in the second there was gasp after gasp.”
Theatre Weekly: ***** “Doran’s script is a tightly-wound coil of ambition, desperation and betrayal, and one where every character is vivid and richly drawn.”
The Stage: **** “TV’s The Bear meets Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge in this impressive debut play.”
West End Best Friend: **** ” Hannah Doran has written a play that is both edgy and polished. Her influences are clearly on show as Arthur Miller and David Mamet immediately spring to mind, but where’s the harm in being influenced by the best. This gets an extra star for the sheer commitment to authenticity.”
To book tickets visit: https://parktheatre.co.uk/events/the-meat-kings/